After two years of intensive negotiations, the Philippine government and the country’s largest rebel group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), have signed a final peace agreement, which paves the way for a lasting resolution of one of the world’s longest-running intra-state conflicts.

Hundreds of Eritrean refugees have been enslaved in torture camps in Sudan and Egypt in the past 10 years, enduring weeks or months of violence and rape and extorted by traffickers often in collusion with state security forces.

The minority Muslim population in the Central African Republic is being targeted in a relentless wave of coordinated violence that is forcing entire communities to leave the country, Human Rights Watch said today.

Lawyers, politicians and refugee advocacy groups have expressed serious concerns that the accidental release of the personal details of almost 10,000 asylum seekers held in detention around Australia could expose them to harm if they are returned home.

Foreign maids, cleaners and other domestic workers are being subjected to slave-like labour conditions in Qatar, with many complaining they have been deprived of passports, wages, days off, holidays and freedom to move jobs, a Guardian investigation can reveal.

The Chinese government should immediately drop all charges against the Uighur economist Ilham Tohti and release him, Human Rights Watch said today. Tohti, a professor at Beijing’s Minzu University of China and the founder of a website focusing on Uighur issues, UighurOnline, was formally arrested for “separatism” on February 25, 2014.

The UN has revealed more cases of child abuse in Syria, as rebels recruit refugee children in bordering countries and the Syrian government forces detain and torture children with rebel connections, UN chief Ban Ki-moon said.

After the conflict, the siege of Homs is in chaos. It was a first sad glimpse of lives lived under siege: the wounded who survived nearly two years under fire in the Old City of Homs; the elderly, bent by anguish and age, in need of medicine, comfort, and care.

Women raped during Libya’s 2011 uprising that toppled long-time ruler Muammar Gaddafi should be recognised as war victims. Its decree would put the women on the same level as wounded ex-fighters and entitle them to compensation.

The situations in Yarmouk refugee camp: a tide of hundreds of people presses against a security barrier. Armed men struggle to contain a crowd desperate to reach a UN food distribution point at the end of a narrow rutted road that cuts through a desolate wasteland of utter ruin.

Unlawful actions by Thai police and protesters threaten further violence in Thailand’s ongoing political conflict, Human Rights Watch said today. Thai authorities and protest leaders should take all necessary steps to end politically motivated violence and lawbreakers on all sides should be prosecuted.

Venezuela violence continues after arrest of Leopoldo LópezThe UN High Major Venezuelan cities were racked by fire, teargas and volleys of rubber bullets on Wednesday night as anti-government protests escalated after the arrest of opposition figurehead, Leopoldo López.

Gunmen fired a rocket-propelled grenade at a police car parked in front of the Tunisian consulate in the restive eastern Libyan city of Benghazi without causing any casualties or damage on Saturday, security officials said according to Reuters news agency.

The U.S. on Monday filed a World Trade Organization case against India over a solar-power dispute that has limited U.S. access to the Indian market, a move that could further inflame relations between the two countries.

Japan on Thursday moved forward with a challenge at the World Trade Organization of tariffs Ukraine has imposed on passenger automobiles, asking the WTO to establish a panel to weigh in on the dispute.

2014.02.18COOL in court: Canada, U.S. take meat labelling dispute back to WTO

With patience waning on all sides, Canada, Mexico and the United States have headed back to the World Trade Organization (WTO) to argue the future of America’s controversial mandatory country-of-origin labelling (COOL).

India has decided to block investigations by the United States into its trade policies and patent laws, and prepare for a battle at the World Trade Organization (WTO), a move that could escalate already-strained tension between the two countries.

The World Trade Organization’s dispute settlement body (DSB) has decided to establish a panel in the dispute opposing the Faroe Islands to the European Union. The panel will hear the Faroes’ claim that the EU ban imposed on Faroese herring and mackerel imports since last August is in breach of WTO obligations.

The World Trade Organization on Wednesday tasked a dispute panel with determining whether China has fallen short of its international trade obligations by continuing to level import duties on U.S. electrical steel.

At a Wednesday meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, the WTO Dispute Settlement Body established a compliance panel to consider the U.S.’ challenge to anti-dumping and countervailing duties China has imposed against American-made grain-oriented, flat-rolled electrical steel.

The Dispute Settlement Body, on 26 February 2014, established a panel at the request of Denmark, in respect of the Faroe Islands, to study the measures imposed by the European Union against the Faroe Islands. It also established, at the request of the United States, a compliance panel regarding China’s countervailing and anti-dumping duties on grain oriented flat-rolled electrical steel from the United States.

Environmental group Sea Shepherd has accused the Japanese whaling fleet of ramming one of its vessels in the Southern Ocean. Sea Shepherd says its ship the Bob Barker was deliberately struck by the Yushin Maru No. 2 early on Sunday morning (AEDT).

New Zealand summoned Japan’s ambassador on Monday to protest the entry of a Japanese whaling ship into its exclusive economic zone (EEZ), after clashes earlier between whalers and vessels from the Sea Shepherd conservationist group.

International Court of Justice Defines Maritime Boundary Between Peru and Chile

In 2008, Peru filed an application at the International Court of Justice (the Court), claiming that its southern maritime boundary with Chile had not been formally delimited and asking the Court to undertake the task of delimitation using the equidistance method. The parties concluded their presentations to the Court in December, 2012 and the Court issued its Judgment on January 27, 2014.

The Japanese government filed a damages claim in an Okinawa court on Wednesday against the captain of the fishing vessel, Zhan Qixiong, who was detained after the incident but was later released amid Chinese diplomatic pressure and the threat of economic retaliation.

Malaysia, Phl agree on peaceful settlement of disputes in South China Sea

President Benigno Aquino III said here today that Malaysia and the Philippines agreed on the peaceful settlement of disputes in the South China Sea in accordance with the rule of law and United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

Heads of State, ministers and high-level representatives of over 40 countries as well as 11 international organizations have committed to taking decisive and urgent action to tackle the global illegal wildlife trade.

Air pollution: European commission launches legal action against the UK

The UK faces fines of up to £300m a year and embarrassing court appearances after the European commission launched legal proceedings against it for failing to reduce “excessive” levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) air pollution from traffic, despite 15 years of warnings and several extensions and postponements granted to the government.

Green activists are crying foul after an Indonesian police officer believed to have laundered nearly $128 million in proceeds from illegal fuel and timber smuggling was sentenced to just two years in prison for illegal logging – a verdict described as “shockingly lenient” and “unbelievable” given the extent of his alleged crimes.

A Pennsylvania federal judge on Friday put an end to a lawsuit brought by two oil and gas industry groups that challenged restrictions on drilling in a national forest, concluding that the U.S. Forest Service had already put the contested provisions on hold.

European Union lawmakers on Tuesday passed tough carbon emissions standards for vehicles, striking a deal that cuts the average emissions from new cars by 40 percent by 2020 while maintaining some flexibility for the auto industry.

Shell Oil Co. will pay $4 million to settle False Claims Act allegations that it sought payments from a Massachusetts fund for hazardous waste cleanup at its gas stations while it also received reimbursements from its insurers, state authorities said Thursday.

Suncor Energy Inc. has agreed to pay about $1.8 million to settle the U.S. government’s suit over a leaking oil pipe that allegedly poisoned wildlife outside a refinery near Commerce City, Colo., according to a consent order released Wednesday.

Members of the World Intellectual Property Organization patent law committee this week bridged significant differences and agreed on a range of activities for future work, each with their own goals for the international patent system in mind.

Nokia and HTC have settled all pending patent litigation between them, and entered into a patent and technology collaboration agreement. HTC will make payments to Nokia and the collaboration will involve HTC’s LTE patent portfolio, further strengthening Nokia’s licensing offering. The companies will also explore future technology collaboration opportunities. The full terms of the agreement are confidential.

Despite spending a week in mostly closed, informal discussions, the World Intellectual Property Organization committee working on the protection of genetic resources, got little closer to breaching the opposing viewpoints. Members managed to produce a draft text – with signs of steps toward a middle ground – that they say can serve as a basis for further discussion on the development of an international instrument preventing wrongful patents.

American Superconductor Corp said two copyright-infringement cases brought in China will be heard in court after the country’s Supreme People’s Court rejected efforts to move the disputes to arbitration.

The origination of the widely popular application Google Earth is the focus of a patent infringement lawsuit filed today by ART+COM Innovationpool GmbH (“ACI”) against Google, Inc. in Delaware Federal Court.

Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co., which have sued each other around the globe over patents, joined together to tell the European Union to cut down on the ability of companies that license patents to win court rulings limiting product sales.

Marathon Patent Group, Inc., a patent licensing company, announced today that its subsidiary, CyberFone Systems, LLC, has filed four patent infringement lawsuits in the United States Eastern District Court of Texas against Lexmark, Konica Minolta, Ricoh and Xerox.